MORECAMBE football club are days away from calamity amid their “soul-destroying” financial woes and collapsing takeover deals.
The Shrimps face the possibility of being banned from playing their first National League game of the season, which is just three weeks away, after their owners have been unable to pay staff and players.
The future of Morecambe FC has been plunged into uncertaintyRex
Morecambe are owned by Jason Wittingham’s Bong Group Investments, but have been up for sale since 2022.
Financial issues in that time has seen the club slapped with transfer embargoes which have impacted on-field performances, with Morecambe relegated twice in the last three years.
Now players and staff are seeing their livelihoods impacted as the club have been unable to pay wages.
The club’s playing staff were paid just a third of their wages in June and will be able to leave Morecambe for free if they are not paid their next paycheck by Friday.
Financial issues have also meant that school proms, weddings and wakes that were scheduled to be held at their ground, the Mazuma Stadium, have been cancelled.
The dire financial straits have seen a local food bank offer to help employees struggling to make ends meet, while an Indian restaurant fed players for free earlier this month, according to the Guardian.
Fans have even tried to raise funds for the players themselves, generating £362 in a whip-round that was politely refused by the team.
Lifelong fan David Freer, 62, has described the whole ordeal as “soul-destroying”.
RexMorecambe fan groups have voiced their concerns with the club’s situation[/caption]
Morecambe FCTyson Fury has worked with his local club before[/caption]
Fans have been left in the dark as a public war has played out between the club’s current owners, their prospective buyers and the board of directors.
The Bond Group had previously announced their intentions to sell the club to London-based investment firm Panjab Warriors – who have since loaned £6million to Morecambe.
However, Panjab Warriors have since accused Bond Group of “deliberately jeopardising the very existence of the club in a last-ditch effort to alter terms that were already agreed”.
And things came to a head when Whittingham announced last week that he is selling the club to a mystery third party and not the Panjab Warriors – who had already been ratified by the EFL.
SunSport have contacted Morecambe and the National League for comment.
Labour MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, Lizzi Collinge, suggested that Whittingham is using the club to leverage his own finances.
Using parliamentary privilege in the Commons last week, she said: “I suspect that Jason Whittingham has built a house of cards, and it is now falling down around his ears.
“Morecambe FC is being held hostage, and it breaks my heart … The likes of Jason Whittingham should never have been allowed to buy a football club.”
Panjab Warriors have also announced that it is considering legal action against the Bond Group for possible “misrepresentation and bad faith dealing”.
The club is on the brink of collapse and could be the latest to fall victim to the gaping holes in rules surrounding football governance.
It all comes just four years after Morecambe were playing at the highest level they ever have in their history in League One.
The Shrimps have even had sponsorship from local fan Tyson Fury in the past.
Former boxing heavyweight champion Fury has even floated the idea of purchasing the club himself in the past.
Speaking to talkSPORT in 2022, he said: “I’m thinking about buying Morecambe Football Club, they’re in League One at the moment.
“So I was thinking I invest X amount of millions in them. Basically throw it at them and keep them going up.
“I’ve been offered to buy Morecambe Football Club. I own all the training facilities anyway and the training gym. So who knows?
“You might be looking at a football club owner.”
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